Avatars and "laser pointer" controls that provide visual feedback so participants can see where people are, what they are looking at, what content they are editing, and how they are using applications;

Persistence of virtual spaces, so work in progress, as well as the state of the virtual space itself, is preserved so users can easily return to the work at a later time or enable one user to pick up and carry on where another left off;

Customizable room templates to simplify creation of virtual meeting rooms, offices, labs, or other indoor spaces, all of which can be linked together through a drag-and-drop interface; and

OpenQwaq Virtual Campus to create virtual outdoor spaces, which can be linked with other outdoor or indoor virtual spaces.

OpenQwaq is being released under a GNU GPL v2 license. Additional information and source code are available on the OpenQwaq project site here.

In related news, Teleplace has also launched Teleplace Connect, which integrates virtual workspaces with enterprise collaboration solutions, such as Microsoft SharePoint.

About the Author

Leila Meyer is a technology writer based in British Columbia. She can be reached at leilameyer@gmail.com.